


Shooting Star

by nirejseki, robininthelabyrinth (nirejseki)



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Character, ColdWave Week, M/M, Sugar Daddy, Villains to Heroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-14 13:31:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14770548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nirejseki/pseuds/nirejseki, https://archiveofourown.org/users/nirejseki/pseuds/robininthelabyrinth
Summary: "So, Mr. Rory," Sara Lance, leader of the Legends, asks, leaning across the desk. "Tell me. Why do you want to join the Legends and be a hero?"Mick really hopes he doesn't screw up this interview - it could be his last chance of becoming a real superhero.(You see, he has this little complication involving this one supervillain...)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Coldwave Week: Opposites Attract

"Sorry, your name is...?"

"Mick Rory," Mick says, sitting very still. "Uh, technically it's Michael Christopher Sebastian Rory, but I go by Mick."

He appreciated full names. They helped cut down on ambiguity, which was helpful for a kid from a town with thirteen Micks.

Irish Catholics flock together. 

"Ri-ight," Sara Lance, 'but please call me Sara', says. She looks a bit long-suffering, but in fairness, she is the Captain and leader of the Legends, a rather motley collection of capes and vigilantes and volunteers, rather than one of the more reputable hero teams like the Flash (Majorus or Minorus, as people in the Gem City liked to joke about the two distinct teams: better than calling the Minorus team the Kid Flash team, given that said hero was fully grown) or the Arrow teams over in Starling. She's probably used to people fucking up their interviews. "So why do you want to join the Legends and be a hero?"

Basic opener, should be a softball.

"I want to help people," Mick answers steadily. He really hopes he doesn't screw up this one; this could be his last chance of becoming a real superhero.

"You could do that in a hundred other roles: police, hospital, even -" She glances at his fireproof clothing. "- firefighter. Why do you want to be a hero in specific?"

"I think it would be the best use of my talents," Mick says. He keeps his fingers knotted together in his lap. "I've done some bad things in my past that I'm hoping to move beyond, and being a volunteer hero seems to me to be a good way of doing it. I understand the risks involved."

"Do you?"

"Survival rates are pretty low, self-sacrifice pretty high. I get that. I'm willing to take that risk on."

A glimmer of interest. "Glad to hear it." She shuffles through his paperwork. The White Canary, sister to the Black Canary over in Starling, daughters of the _former_ Black Canary - it must be nice, being born into a family like that, a hero for a mother and a respected detective for a father. Mick had no such luck. Most people didn't. "Hmmm."

He's heard that 'hmmm' before; it means she's seized on the part of his application that's actually interesting. 

"You still have this - 'heat gun' that you mention here?"

"Yes," Mick says, just barely swallowing the 'ma'am' his farm boy heritage is currently suggesting as a good idea. White Canary's younger than he is; she won't appreciate it. Best just to leave it off.

"You know how to use it?"

"Better than anyone."

"Repair it?"

"Yes."

"Hmmmm. And -" Some more paper shuffling. "- do you ever have any issues with, ah, your listed medical condition -"

"My pyromania is being treated effectively," Mick says. "I see a regular shrink and I'm on a regimen of medication which is proving very effective. It's all in the application."

"I see." 

More paper shuffling, but she's interested. The Legends are down a fire-worker - they used to have Firestorm, but he split into his component parts so that one could retire to be with his grandchildren and the other could go to college, the obvious result of such an age-differential pairing. That meant they're particularly interested in acquiring another fire specialist, and Mick's hoping that means they'll take a chance on him.

He doesn't let himself hope too much, though. He's been at this stage before and it hasn't ended well.

"Huh."

Yep, there it is. The interested 'Hmmm' followed by the 'Huh' of concern.

"Says here this isn't your first time applying to a hero group," Sara observes. 

"No."

"You've applied to both Flash and Kid Flash groups, as well as to the Arrow outposts, the Lanterns out by the coast, the Super groups - Supergirl, Superman, even Superboy - you're on the nigh-endless waitlist to get an interview on the Wonder Woman team despite the disadvantages of your gender, and you've even gone so far as to apply to work support for the Bats in Gotham."

"Didn't work," Mick says shortly. "They only work with Gotham residents."

Unspoken: no one else applies. 

"Looks like you really want to be a hero, Mr. Rory," Sara says.

"That's right, Miss - uh, Captain Lance."

"Call me Sara," she repeats absently, still frowning down at the paperwork. "Okay, this might be a rude question, but - why?"

Mick winces.

"Why didn't one of these groups - excluding the Bats, we know they're weird - agree to take you? Your testing stats seem fine, if more geared towards physical work and fighting than intellectual support, which is fine; the heat gun seems like a real asset; and for all your talk of bad things in your past, you haven't been listed as being purposefully involved in any major arsons since your mid-twenties. Unintentional ones, yes, but nothing intentional."

"That's right," Mick says. 

"So why not take you on?"

Mick swallows. Here's the part of the interview where it always goes wrong. "On the application, question 26c," he says, "it asks if you have anything additional you feel you need to disclose before you get hired."

"Yes, it does," Sara says, checking. "And you've marked it 'yes'. What do you feel you need to disclose before applying to work as a hero?"

"My - uh - there's this guy," Mick says, changing tracks. "He's - interested. In me."

Sara's gaze sharpens. "You have a stalker?"

Mick opens his mouth to protest, but no, now that he thinks about it, there's a good chunk of Len's behavior that falls into that category. "Yeah," he says. "I guess? It's kinda endearing, sometimes."

Sara's eyebrows go up.

"I saved his life when he was a kid," Mick explains. "He wanted to pay me back for it when he was older, except he hasn't really figured out a good way to do it yet. So he sends me gifts, money, tries to get me out of a jam, that sorts of things. And to do that, he says he needs to keep an eye on me. Sometimes. Uh, most of the time. If it means anything, I don't really mind the stalking so much; I don't really care much about privacy. And some of the gifts are nice. And he'll lay off for a few days if I ask and stuff. It ain't domestic violence or anything like that. It's just - sometimes it can be an issue. Mostly for other people, he'd never do it if it really bugged me, y'know?"

Sara's looking amused, now, instead of concerned. "So he's old-style-romance-novel courting you, and you're okay with that?"

"Something like that," Mick says. He doesn't know how to explain that Len's interest in him isn't sexual; Mick's more interested in fire than he is in people, though he doesn't mind having sex, and as far as Mick can tell, Len gets his kicks from adrenaline instead. But Len loves showing off how good of a provider he is, how thoughtful a gift-giver, how generous a friend, how valiant a protector, and Mick's his favorite target for that, right next to his sister. Mick tried to commiserate with her once, but she ended up trying to give him the shovel talk instead. "Either way, I feel like I gotta disclose it 'cause it could impact what I do as a hero, since he does go out of his way to try to keep me safe."

"I see," Sara says, still looking amused. She'd been trying to hide her smile, but she's given up the fight and is full-on smirking at him now. "Better that your knight in shining armor is a known factor at the start, huh?"

Mick shrugs. He can't really say he'd describe Len that way. 

He can't say _most_ people would, really. 

"What's this guy's name, anyhow?"

He'd been hoping she wouldn't ask that. But she has, and he has to answer. He can't start off a career in being a hero by lying. 

"Leonard Jacob Itzhak Snart."

"Leonard -" Sara pauses. "Wait. Leonard Snart? Not _the_ Leonard Snart?"

"Yes, ma'am," Mick says, unable to help himself. 

"The Leonard Snart that's a supervillain?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"The Leonard Snart that is a _founding member_ of the Legion of Doom, the Supervillain League, _and_ the Henchman and Minion Union? The one who's regularly classed up there in the top five most terrifyingly competent supervillains you can possibly go up against? The only non-powered one on that selfsame list?"

"Luthor -"

"Lex Luthor literally grafted his spine into that supersuit, he doesn't count anymore," Sara says dismissively. "But just so we're being clear, we _are_ talking about the Leonard Snart that, when Luthor got bitchy over a Metropolis incursion, organized the other villains into very nearly throwing Luthor out of his own goddamn evil conspiracy?"

"...he's very good at organizing?" Mick offers weakly. 

Sara stares at Mick. "So, just to be perfectly clear," she says, and oh, this isn't going to be good. "You're telling me, the leader of a team of superheroes ranked B-level _at best_ , that your would-be suitor from another era, your knight in shining armor, your _stalker boyfriend_ or _whatever_ you want to call him, is an omega-level ranked threat-to-the-world supervillain capable of quite literally rallying armies. Is that what you're telling me?"

"...yes, ma'am."

"And you're telling me that what he likes best is watch you wherever you go and, what, leave you gifts?"

"Sometimes if I get in trouble with other villains, he intercedes to make them let me go," Mick says, deciding to omit the violence that tends to happen if the villains don't comply with what Len considers to be commendable alacrity. "But yeah, usually just gifts."

Sara continues to stare at him.

After the first full minute of silence passes, Mick's shoulders slump. He's pretty sure that means he blew this interview, too. 

Next comes the part where he's asked to leave, and quickly.

"You know what," Sara says. "You know what? Why not."

Mick raises his head and looks at her.

She's tapping her pen to her lips. "Why not," she says again, nodding to herself. "What the hell, wouldn't be the first bad decision I've made on staffing for this team. Congrats, Rory, you're in."

"I - I am?"

"Yep," she says, popping the 'p' like bubblegum. "You clearly really want to be a hero, god only knows why - I assume Snart's already offered to set you up in a fully equipped mansion as his official mistress-in-evil or something -"

"Consort," Mick corrects.

Sara blinks owlishly at him. "Pardon?"

"As his consort. He said he wouldn't wanna disrespect me by calling me a mistress."

Sara gives a low whistle. "He's got it _bad_ , doesn't he," she says with a touch of admiration. "Gotta admit, would _not_ have called that one; everyone always says he's such a cold fish. Well, I don't know what it is that's driving you, but driven you clearly are, and I'm willing to take a bet on you."

"Really?" Mick asks, still unable to believe it. "I - really? That's great! Most people kick me out around now. What was it, if you don't mind me asking..?"

"Honestly?" Sara says. "My team's fairly new, fairly unorthodox, and, most importantly, fairly struggling to keep up with the big league guys. You seem like you'd be useful support, enough that I'd take you on your own merits, but if your little thing with Snart can get us out of even one scrape or tight spot, you'll have earned more than enough credit to balance out any trouble we'll get that comes along with it. After all, we're not like the big guys; it's not like we actually have any secrets that would be a problem for his spying to discover that would make you a security risk..."

Mick nods. That makes perfect sense.

"Besides," Sara adds, "if Snart decides to retaliate against us for _not_ hiring you, we wouldn't be able to take it."

"He doesn't want me working hero work at all," Mick objects. "He wouldn't retaliate; he's probably grateful."

"He might not want you working the hero side," Sara says dryly, "but he probably doesn't want you feeling bad 'cause you got rejected, either."

...that's probably true, actually. It sounds a suspicious amount like something Len would do and never mention to Mick.

Mick makes a mental note to look to see if any attacks hit the places he applied to shortly after he got rejected. 

"But either way, it's not an issue," Sara says briskly. "Welcome to the team. I hope you realize that when I said B-list superheroes, I was A, serious and B, understating how much of a sheer total mess we are, so if you want to quit -" 

"I won't," Mick says. Not after this long trying without success to get onto a hero team!

"Regardless, if you do, we'll be okay with it," she says firmly. "Just promise me you're not a spy or something."

"I'm not."

"Didn't think so," she said. "Though - now that we've gotten hiring out of the way - why _do_ you want to join up? Beyond what you've already told me. Why heroism?"

Mick shrugs. "I got help after juvie, mental health type help, and I put my life together. Wasn't easy, lot of setbacks, but I did it, and I want to - I dunno. Pay it forward or some shit like that. Most up-and-up places won't take me, though - too violent, too thuggish, arson's scary, take your pick. I do some freelance charity stuff, but it got into my head that I could do something a little more substantive, what with the heat gun and stuff. I know I'll be a good hero, I've got the skills for it, and, well, I want to do good. This is a good way for me to do good."

"Sadly," Sara says, "that may be the most well-adjusted least-tragic-backstory reason I ever heard."

"My family died in a fire that I started."

"...well-adjusted, at least. Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the team."

The rest of the team consisted of Ray Palmer, inventor, super-suit user, and all-around smiling daisy flower; Zari Tomaz, hacker, trickster-style anti-hero, and possibly from the future; Nate Heywood, steel-skin grad school dropout with a hero ancestry; and Amaya Jiwe, animal spirit summoner and clone. There's also Gideon, their spaceship/timeship AI, but she apparently doesn't get involved beyond navigation. 

"Nice to meet you," Mick grunts, a bit embarrassed. He's not good with people.

Luckily, neither are any of they, a fact which Mick is incredibly grateful for. 

"Okay, guys!" Sara says, clapping her hands for attention. "Enough chit-chat; we're done recruiting for the moment, so let's go on a trial mission to see how we all work together, huh? There's a small job on the mission posting that we can take."

Mick loves it. 

He gets to use his gun, which he adores; he gets to use his fists and even, at one point, his head, ramming it into one of the villains they were sent to apprehend; he gets to feel the rush of a fight, the camaraderie of fighting besides allies, and, best of all, the sheer joy and satisfaction of doing the right thing. 

Of being a hero.

Yes, this is where Mick was supposed to be: with the heroes, getting his illness dealt with so that he can do all the things he wanted to do as a villain but for the side of good. 

"Good job, everyone," Sara tells them as they head back to the Waverider, grinning wildly. "We only had one major screw-up that time!"

"So half the team getting captured wasn't part of a scheme?" Mick asks, only half-teasing. 

"Nope," Ray answers brightly. He doesn't understand sarcasm, which Mick appreciates about him. "But it worked out for the best at the end - hey, cool! Presents!"

There were, in fact, a bunch of what appeared to be long-sleeved shirts on the table, each one wrapped in a bright blue ribbon. Ray bounds forward and pulls one free, unfurling it to show the rest of them.

"Official Superhero Squad: Legends Edition," Nate reads and laughs. "Nice, boss, I love it!"

"It wasn't me," Sara says. 

Everyone, including Mick, turns to look at her. She's frowning at the table. 

"No, seriously," she says when she notices their stares. "Don't get me wrong, I totally would if I'd thought about it, but I didn't. Gideon, is this you?"

"I'm afraid not, Captain Lance," Gideon says.

"Then who was it?" Amaya asks, frowning now as well. "You have them on your cameras, right?"

"I have a several minute blank in my camera files," Gideon says apologetically. "However, I have scanned the presents several times and they contain nothing harmful. There is, however, a card."

"They left a _card_?" Zari asks skeptically, stepping up and pulling it out from under the shirts.

There's a picture of a snowflake on the front of the card.

Mick groans and covers his face with his hands.

Len could be so goddamn _embarrassing_ sometimes.

"'Congrats on the new team roster,'" Zari reads out. "'Keep each other safe and no harm will come to you.' What the hell does that mean?"

"Is it one of the other teams?" Ray asks. "One of the Flashes, maybe?"

"What type of superhero leaves a _threat_? Especially against other heroes?" Amaya asks.

"Yeah, well, what type of villain leaves _presents_?" Nate replies, gesturing at the shirts.

"Actually," Sara interjects, "I might know the answer to that, though I've got to admit that I wasn't aware it was going to become relevant so fast - or, uh, that the individual in question could break past our security, bypass Gideon, and somehow already knows all of our shirt sizes -"

"Plus the fact that I'm allergic to some types of wool," Ray adds, peering down at one of the shirts. "This one is my size and it's labeled allergen-free."

"Okay then," Sara says. She looks like she's developing a headache. "Uh, so, it appears that when we took Mick on, we got two for the price of one in a much more immediate way than I was anticipating."

"I told you about his way with gifts," Mick mumbles. Sara hasn't yet noticed the fact that there are now some very nice Impressionist paintings adorning the walls of the bridge, a handful of Mick's favorite artists, and he's not going to be the one to mention it. 

He's willing to bet that the room assigned to him, which he hasn't even seen yet, has already been stocked with some nice sheets and a good weighted blanket, too. 

He likes weighted blankets.

Maybe he can bribe Ray with one of his own not to mention it...

"Yeah, well," Sara says, shaking her head a little. "While our mandate does include picking up villains as team members, I guess I was expecting the villains to be a little more...past-tense."

"Oooh, do we have a villain member?" Nate asks, eyes bright. "Who is it?"

"His name's Leonard Snart," Mick says. "And he ain't a member of the team."

Unless he got one of those dumb shirts for himself, anyway.

"Wait," Amaya says. "The Leonard Snart who -"

Mick decides to go find his bedroom.

There _is_ a weighted blanket there.

There's also a very happy supervillain sprawled on said weighted blanket, munching on the dinner that Mick made in advance for him in the event the interview went well.

"Mick!" Len exclaims, beaming at him. "Congrats! You got on a team! I knew you could do it!"

"Len, you ain't supposed to be here. You're a supervillain, remember?" Mick reminds him, even though he knows it's probably futile.

"I'll sneak out in the morning," Len promises. "I've got a teleporter on call now, actually; he can even jump timestreams, and he's just getting started as a villain so he doesn't mind being my taxi cab for a while. It's a good internship position for him."

"You're paying him, right?"

"Of _course_ I'm paying him," Len says indignantly. "Who d'you take me for, Luthor? I'm also setting him up with a mentor in his own specialization - found someone who was looking for an apprentice now that they're getting older and slower, they'll be just right for each other."

Len's supervillain shtick might be cold, but his superpower has always been a combination of organization skills and networking. Now _both_ of those villains would owe him favors.

Mick sighs.

"Now come to bed," Len says coaxingly. "I brought hot chocolate with mini marshmallow and your favorite ninja movies; we can celebrate your new job in style."

Mick allows himself to be drawn in, mostly because resistance is in fact futile. 

"Hey, Len," he says once he's curled under the weighted blanket, a definitely-not-regulation fireplace crackling in the corner of the berthroom and the flatscreen television starting the opening credits. "Out of curiosity, if I _hadn't_ gotten the job, would you do anything to them?"

"Not an issue, since you _did_."

"Len."

"You know I hate seeing you disappointed."

" _Len_."

"It wouldn't be nothing they wouldn't have already dealt with!"

"Len!"

"I just take an _existing_ villain plot and -"

"Leonard Jacob Itzhak Snart!"

Len cowers before the might of the Disappointed Use Of The Full Name and tries to look apologetic.

He's not very good at it.

Mick sighs again and reaches out to put a hand on Len's hairline the way Len likes. It's really not fair to expect Len _not_ to act - well, like the asshole supervillain he is.

"You know you're going to have to let me do this hero thing on my own, right?" he reminds Len. "Unless you want to turn anti-villain."

"No, I'm not gonna," Len says sulkily. "And I know, I know. I'll let you stretch your wings. I just wanna celebrate. You've been trying so hard, y'know?"

"Just this once," Mick allows.

"And anytime you're in serious danger."

"Life-threatening danger only."

"Ugh, _fine_..."

There's a knock on the door.

They both freeze.

"Hey, Mick, it's Ray!" a voice came through the door. "Everyone else decided to deal with the issue in the morning, so we're all turning in, but I was walking by and heard you watching a movie. Want some company?"

He sounds wistful. 

Mick's about to say no, but Len pokes at him and nods.

Mick goggles at him. "He'll _see_ you," he hisses.

"Good for him to get to know me early," Len hisses back. "Don't worry, I looked this guy up; he's a dweeb, but well-meaning. He'll be good company for you when I ain't around. Let him in."

Mick thinks this is a terrible idea.

"Come in!"

Ray comes in. "Ooooh," he says. "Is that a weighted blanket? I've always wanted one of those."

"Hot chocolate, too," Len says. "Mini-marshmallows. Grab a mug."

"Cool! I will - uh, sorry, do I know – I mean, have we met..?"

"Shh," Mick says loudly. "Movie's starting."

Ray really wants to ask, that much is obvious, but social requirements win out and he keeps quiet, grabbing a mug and settling down, although he does keep shooting Len confused looks of almost-but-not-quite recognition.

"Tell you later," Mick whispers to him.

Ray beams.

Mick even dares to let himself hope that this might actually all work out...

As long as Sara doesn't come walking through the door, anyway.

She does, but luckily it's only after Nate, Amaya, and Zari have already invaded the room and been seduced by a combination of weighted blankets, soft pillows, hot chocolate and a handful of ninja movies even Mick will admit are terrible. 

They're all wearing their new team shirts, too. 

Sara looks ready to murder someone, but since it would be her entire team, she ends up giving in and joining them.

Len is pleased as punch about it.

(The first time one of the villains they're pursuing surrenders on sight of Leonard Snart's new favorite supehero team, so are the rest of them.)


	2. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For Coldwave Week: Date Night

"Lemme take you out for a good time," Mick says. 

Little Lenny Snart beams at him, not a lick of distrust in his eyes, nothing but pure adoration. 

No one's looked at Mick like that since his family burned.

Looked at him like -

Like -

Like he's a hero.

Mick kinda likes it.

It's not sustainable, of course. Surely not. He's an arsonist. A pyromaniac. There's nothing heroic about him.

Nothing at all.

Sure, he rescued Lenny Snart from a shiv and six boys, but that was an aberration. It didn't mean anything. 

But still, doomed to be a villain or not, he could do some little things, little things like taking little Lenny Snart down the back stairway and up to the roof where he's stolen some rolls, some meat, and a few bottles of water to set them up with a nice picnic under the stars like Mick used to do back at the farm. The food is a bit more than they usually get, far less than they need, what with Lenny being a growing boy and whatnot and Mick being already over six feet, and when they get there he notices how meager and pathetic it all is put together.

Lenny, though, Lenny looks at the measly little collection of food like it's his birthday and Christmas (or is it Hannukah?) all put together. 

Mick claps him on the shoulder, and smiles at the kid. He's clearly making his day. 

Possibly more than that, given the way Lenny goes quiet every time his dad gets mentioned. This might be the first picnic he's been on, especially under the stars given how much of a city boy Lenny is.

Mick can't be a hero, but that doesn't mean he can't do something.

And this? It's the least Mick can do.

(Isn't it?)

* * *

"Lemme take you out for a good time," the man at the bar says to him, a shade too eagerly, his blue eyes shining bright like it'll break his heart when Mick says no the way he's going to.

And it's not that Mick doesn't think the guy is gorgeous, pretty face and pretty body, but - Mick's tired. 

He's so tired.

He - he's been trying so hard. To make things right, to do the right thing. 

To be the hero he wants to be.

It wasn't what he wanted, at first, or at least it wasn't something he admitted to himself that he wanted desperately. After what happened with his family and juvie and everything, he didn't even think it was possible. Someone like him, becoming a hero? No way. But working as a criminal, lighting fires for money, intimidating innocent people, hurting people...it sickened him.

He thought for a while that he could just get over it, that he could learn to stomach it in time, grow a thick skin, but...then there was a fire, just like with his family.

Just like then, he'd stopped outside the building, stopped in his tracks, frozen by the flame.

(Just like last time, he thinks he hears a shout for help from inside.)

But unlike last time, this time, _this time_ , he'd been on his medication and doing his practices just like his shrink told him to, and he shook off his mesmerization, and he ran inside.

He ended up rescuing the two kids trapped inside, a boy and a girl. And they'd looked at him...

Like he was a hero.

And that moment, he thought - he believed - 

Maybe he _could_ be.

He quit his criminal jobs the next day and set out to make something of himself.

But it was hard. No one else believed in him. No one would hire him, no one would give him a chance, no one, and his money is running out. He couldn't even get a regular non-hero job with the arson convictions in his past. Soon he'll have no choice but to turn to the Families to have enough to feed himself, to house himself...for the pills the shrink recommended. The ones that let him focus enough to rescue those kids and to beat back the demons of his past. Without the money for those, he knows he'll slip back into his old habits, turning to the fire for comfort.

And when that happens, there go his dreams.

Mick's down to his last handful of dollars tonight, his last-chance job application rejected, and he came to the bar to drink away his disappointment.

But now there is this man - a beautiful man - and he wants to show Mick a good time.

Mick can't help but smile at the offer, well-meant as it is. "Now's not the time," he says, as gently as he knows how.

"Oh, but please," the man says, his expression growing anxious. " _Please_ let me."

Mick frowns at the man, who is well-dressed, if skinny. "You're really hung up about this, ain't you? What're you doing being so anxious, anyhow? _I'm_ the one who can't pay rent."

"Oh! The rent! Yes, the rent. I wouldn't worry about that," the man says, his blue eyes wide. "I've paid it out through the end of the year; your landlord should be telling you that tomorrow."

"Hold up a minute - you did _what_?! You don't even know me!"

"I thought you might like it," the man says, wringing his hands. "I just - I wanted - Mick, don't you remember me?"

And all of a sudden, Mick did.

It's little Lenny Snart, made good and come to save Mick the way Mick saved him all that time ago.

(Not that Mick can ever get him to believe that.)

* * *

"Lemme take you out for a good time," Mick coaxes through the door of his own bedroom, where Len's gone to go sulk.

He hadn't seen Len in months, what with their last argument about Mick wanting to do hero work and Len passionately devoted to being a better type of supervillain. Shortly afterwards, Mick'd finally gotten a job as something vaguely resembling hero support, albeit not quite - a place called ARGUS, hero-affiliated, and they were willing to hire thugs to be their guards.

Not quite what Mick wants to do - he wants to be a _hero_ , not a security guard - but he thought it'd do well enough, for a bit. Help shape up his resume, no harm done.

He was wrong.

Oh, they didn't fire him, no.

They just thought he was too stupid to see what they were doing, putting bombs into the heads of those criminals and making them do terrible things and taking the fall for it. Criminal against criminal, who ever cared? When a criminal commits an atrocity, no one's surprised.

All you needed was a total lack of faith in anyone's ability to ever change for the better.

Mick got in contact with Len through one of those post-it notes Len is always leaving for him to find, hopeful as always for a reunion, and Len gathered a bunch of people together and they burned the place down - literally, in Mick's case, or figuratively, in Len's case, blowing the whole operation into the public view and disgracing those involved forever.

The rest of the supervillains hadn't yet decided if it was an act of heroism worth expelling Len over or some sort of secret criminal act; they were still deliberating whether he should be expelled from the Legion of Doom or given a commendation.

Oddly enough, that's not what Len's sulking about.

No, it's the fact that ARGUS has turned from a feather in Mick's cap into another black mark on Mick's job history, never mind that freeing those people is the best thing Mick's ever done -

Short of saving Len, that is.

"I just made it worse for you," Len mutters, barely audible through the door. "You finally had a hero job, just like you wanted..."

"Get out of there and let me treat you for once," Mick says firmly. He knows this will only encourage Len to keep a closer eye on Mick in the future so that he can keep Mick out of similar trouble, but at this point he's starting to think that's not all bad. It's not like he cares about privacy, and Len's such a polite and generous stalker. "I know a good ice cream place."

After a moment, he adds, in a fit of inspiration, "I think it's run by villains." 

The door creaks open.

* * *

"Lemme take you out for a good time!" Len declares, giddy and flush with success.

"You know I don't like spending your money," Mick reminds him, but he can't help but smile. He hasn't seen Len in weeks; it's good to see the other man, even if he did sweep into Mick's newest place of work right before Mick went off on break, demanding attention immediately in a way that suggested ongoing surveillance. "You stole it all."

Len smirks at him. "Not this time! This time I've extracted it all honestly."

"From...?"

"Supervillains, as it happens. I've established a union for henchmen and minions; they've started collecting their dues, and better yet, the back pay for the all the hazard pay they didn't get. And I got my share - not that I'm a henchman, mind you, but they voted to give me an honorary membership in the union what with me helping establish it and all - and I'm going to spend it on you."

"Len -"

"No arguments," Len says firmly. "If I can't get you what you want, then I can at least treat you."

"What I want -" Mick frowns. "Len -"

"You want the one thing I can't get you," Len says with a flip shrug that he doesn't mean. "To be a hero. I can't - that ain't my world. I'd give you the moon, if you wanted it, but that's the one thing I can't give."

Though his tone is flat and neutral, Mick knows Len well enough to hear the pain behind it. All Len's ever wanted was to be a good enough man to make Mick proud of him, to make Mick look at him like he's the hero that Len thinks Mick is, and Mick doesn't know how to explain to him that - Len's budding criminal/supervillain career aside - he _is_. Despite all his many and myriad faults, Len's the best man he's ever met. 

"Len -" Mick starts, trying to find a way to say it. To tell Len that he's done enough, done more than enough, that he's proven himself a million times over with his gifts and his protection and his adherence to a strict set of rules that made him almost unique amongst supervillains. "I -"

"Enough feelings," Len interrupts. "Tell me, did you apply to Diana's team yet?"

Mick, to his shame, is glad for the change in subject. "You know they have an application list five miles long, and anyway they prefer female applicants," he reminds Len. "And I ain't trans, sorry."

"But it's _Diana_ -"

"Yeah, you big fanboy, it is. That's why they only take female volunteers!"

"I just want an autograph..."

"You're a supervillain!"

"I'm not _her_ supervillain! It'd be rude to go stepping on other people's feet that way, and anyway they don't share nearly enough. They're nearly as bad as the psychos from Gotham that way, all territorial and shit..."

"Says the man who teams up with the Flash to kick out any non-Central villains that come in on his turf..."

"The Gem Cities are _mine_. And anyway, I only kick people out if they don't agree to follow the Rogues' code. Anyway, enough talking: we're going out!"

Mick lets himself be dragged away.

* * *

"Lemme take you _all_ out for a good time!" Len declares. "You've done such a good job, recently, you deserve it!"

"I feel like this violates the Legion of Doom's rules or something," Ray says. "Buying dinner for the hero team that defeated another Legion member's evil plans. Doesn't it?"

"Don't worry, it's not," Len assures him. "Plenty of room for backstabbing in that charter."

"...great," Sara says. "Typical villains, I guess. Anyway, Cold - Snart - you realize we don't work for you, right?"

"Of course you don't. You're free autonomous beings working for your own goals, totally free of outside interference."

"Try that again with less sarcasm this time," Zari suggests. 

"Can I vote?" Nate asks. "Because I want dinner."

"Me too," Amaya says.

Sara glares at her.

"What? I'm hungry! Using the totem takes a lot out of me."

"I mean," Ray says, sounding apologetic, "it _would_ be nice to celebrate, since we're not going to get any _other_ recognition for what we've done today..."

"Oh, _fine_!" Sara exclaims. "We go out with Snart for dinner. Again."

Len bumps his shoulder against Mick's with a pleased smile, practically a PDA for him when he's not hidden in Mick's bedroom. "I know the perfect place," he announces. "It's one of Mick's favorites."

"Of course it is," Zari says dryly. "Like we ever doubted that."

Mick shrugs and smiles. "Just let him," he advises. "Trust me, you'll like it."

* * *

"We just wanted to show you a good time!" Sara protests, but she's failing to hide a grin and that torches her attempt at an innocent act.

"Uh-huh," Len says. 

"It was to repay you for all the great celebrations and gifts you've given us," Ray says, beaming. He actually means it, too.

"Uh- _huh_."

"It was Mick's idea," Zari adds.

Len turns injured eyes on Mick, who is smirking unashamedly. 

"You deserve to have a good time, Lenny," he says.

"I don't need you to set up my supervillain fights like playdates," Len grumbles, even though he's obviously touched by their gesture. "Though seriously, how did you convince a diamond merchant to store their illegal shipment of blood diamonds in an ice factory? And the blizzard?"

"We got a weather guy to do the blizzard," Zari says.

"The diamond thing was a bit trickier," Amaya concedes.

"And I'm gonna guess there's going to be a superhero waiting to ambush me if I go in there?"

"Yep!" Ray says, beaming.

Len crosses his arms, which in no way hides how he's bouncing on his toes with anticipation. This heist is so much in his element that he's probably gotten a dozen or more puns ready to go.

"And what exactly," he asks, still trying to play hard-to-get, "makes you think I'd walk into such an obvious trap? I do like being successful, you know, and part of being successful is not falling into traps."

"You like fighting superheroes," Nate points out. "You do it just for fun."

"Still..."

"Trust me, Len," Mick says, and that's all it takes: Len's shoulders go down, his tension goes away, and his smirk broadens as he pulls out his cold gun and advances deeper into the factory. He trusts Mick, and Mick could never betray that trust. 

After all, he _is_ a hero.

"Stop, villain!" A female voice, warm and low and powerful - and maybe trying to suppress some laughter - says, as the hero protecting the shipment steps forward into the light. "Know that I will not let you succeed!"

Len stops dead.

And then the delighted smile starts spreading across his face. "You got me Diana to go up against," he says, fanboyish glee lighting his eyes. "You got me _Wonder Women_!"

"You have fun now, _Lenny_ ," Sara teases, and settles in to watch the show.

"She's agreed to give you an autograph after," Mick adds. "So don't worry about that."

Len beams at him, pulls down his goggles, and leaps into the fray to go get his ass totally kicked by Diana the way he's always not-so-secretly wanted.

"Supervillains," Ray, sitting beside Mick, tsks. "What can you do with them?"

"Keep 'em," Mick says. "Keep them happy, and keep them forever."

He grins. "That's what I do, anyway."


	3. Chapter 3

"So," Ray says. "Uh. What now?"

Everyone turns to look at Mick.

"I have no idea," he says crossly. "Leave me alone."

"You usually have the most insight into what Len's up to," Zari points out.

"I'm also still a hero," Mick says, more than a little testily. "So no. I have no idea what he's up to. Or what he was thinking. Or how every single hero group on the planet still managed to absolutely fail at stopping the Legion of Doom from getting their hands on the Spear of Destiny and re-writing reality into a dystopic Doomworld where they're in charge of everything. And absolutely none of that lack of knowledge is going to keep me from _strangling him_ about it when I find him!"

"Probably why he hasn't shown his face since the change," Sara says wisely. "Waiting for you to cool down."

"It's not exactly _like_ him, though," Amaya demurs. "Len's usually a really down-to-earth sort of villain, flair for the dramatic aside. This is really out of character."

"I know it's not like him," Mick says through gritted teeth. "That's why I'm gonna strangle him."

"Domestic violence is wrong, Mick," Sara says.

"In this instance?!"

"Hmm. Point. I will totally let you get in a few punches as long as I get one too," she offers. 

Mick grumbles but agrees. Len doesn't actually take being beaten up by heroes when he deserves it personally, after all. "I really don't know what he's thinking this time," he adds gloomily. "He _hates_ world-conquering plans, he thinks all-powerful magical trinkets are cheat codes for losers, and he's normally the first guy to tip off the good guys that something like this is going down."

"Maybe he didn't know about it?" Ray suggests.

Mick snorts. "His membership in the Henchmen and Minion League hasn't been revoked, as far as I'm aware. No way anyone got this far without him knowing."

"Then why..?"

"I don't _know_! He won't answer any of the usual numbers, and it's been over twelve hours of Alternate World and he hasn't so much as shown his face yet!"

Zari nudges Mick's shoulder gently with her own. "Hey," she says, immediately getting the real problem he's been having, which is not exactly the same problem everyone else has been having. "Don't worry about him, okay?"

"I'm not worried," Mick grumbles.

That's a lie.

He's worried.

Normally, anytime any big battle goes down that the Legends are even _remotely_ involved in, Len can be guaranteed to show up within six hours, usually less, to check on his favorite team. 

"He's fine," Zari insists. "He's _Leonard Snart_ , Mick. One of the five co-rulers of Doomworld. He literally helped create this world."

"Yeah, sure. All the more reasons for one of his co-rulers to want to knock him off so they can be the only ones in charge..."

"Go back to being angry," Amaya suggests. "We haven't seen any indication that anything has happened to him, and you know the other villains wouldn't be able to keep from boasting about it if they did do something."

"Hm. Point.

"That means he's fine. And that, in turn, means that he'll have to show his face sometime."

"Does he?" Mick asks glumly. "He owns a fifth of the world now; I'm sure that'll keep him busy."

"Too busy for _you_ , Mick?" Sara says skeptically. "Not really likely."

"More like 'never'," Ray agrees.

Mick shrugs. He admits it's unlikely, given Len's track record, but then again, so is Doomworld itself. 

He doesn't like it when Len goes out of character.

Certainly not without some justification like mind-control or new-villain pheromones, and there's been no indication of anything like that.

"Personally, I'm just really happy we're immune to all the Doomworld changes," Nate says.

"Nate," Amaya says gently. "We're not immune."

"Wait. We're not?"

"Nope," Zari says. "Len just let us keep our memories of the original timeline. Possibly without telling any of his co-rulers about it."

"He did? Huh. One point in the 'he has a secret plan' column."

Ray obediently adds a point to the chart they have going on the whiteboard Gideon created for them when they first realized that the Waverider was grounded until repairs could be made. The time drive is totally dead, without any hope of recovery, so at this point they just want to have the air support. Not to mention wanting to avoid notice from the other people in Doomworld any more than they already have...

The other columns in the chart (titled "Why Would Leonard Snart Do?") are "he's gone crazy", "he was tricked into it", and "he's going to literally give the world to Mick on a platter because he couldn't think of a good enough gift to pay him back for that Diana thing".

(Mick objected strenuously to the inclusion of that last one, but got overruled.)

"Wait, if we're not immune," Nate says, "what are we?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, what do we _do_? Is there an evil Wikipedia saying what our jobs are in this universe?"

"Good question," Sara says. "Zari, could you -"

"Already checked," Zari says. "We're officially part of the Enforcers of the New Regime, actually."

"We _are_?!"

"Officially. Unofficially, we're Len's pet superhero team."

"That doesn't actually seem all that different from how it normally is," Ray says thoughtfully. "In our regular universe, I mean. Without the whole 'Enforcer' bit, but still."

"It's - actually not, sad to say, except for the part where we're all part of the ruling class of a dystopia and have absolute control over about 99% of the population, which has to fulfill our every request."

Silence for a few long minutes.

"Which we will not be exploiting," Sara says, sounding very tempted. "Because we're heroes and that would be bad."

"So much free coffee," Ray says, his eyes dreamy. "So much."

"...not what I was thinking, but you know what, sure, we can demand free coffee."

"Sara!"

"We have to exploit the system somehow or they might get suspicious of us," Sara sniffs.

"They'll be suspicious anyway," Amaya mutters. 

"Hey, if we're Enforcers, why don't we get the sexy leather get-ups the rest of them have?" Nate wants to know.

"Because unlike the rest of them, we haven't been brainwashed," Sara points out. "Which I for one approve of."

"We should still get cool outfits."

"I'll have Gideon _make_ you a leather outfit, okay? We'll probably need it to infiltrate somewhere eventually anyway."

"Good," Nate says, pleased. "I volunteer for that mission."

"Of course you do."

"Wait," Ray says, "are _all_ of the other superhero teams incapacitated?"

"Uh, yeah, as far as I can tell," Zari says. "The only ones still at large are deliberately weakened so that they can be hunted down at the leisure of their respective villains. Why?"

"So what you're telling me is that the Legends are the only hero team left available to fight a world-destroying event? Like, this is our big chance," Ray says, rocking up and down in excitement. "This is our save-the-day, enter-the-big-hero-leagues moment!"

"Huh, yeah," Sara says, already looking vaguely haunted by the responsibility. "Hadn't thought of it that way, but I guess you're right."

"That _bastard_!" Mick suddenly roars.

They all look at him.

Mick, scowling, grabs the pen from Ray and puts a check in the "world to Mick on a platter" column.

Then he crosses out the word "world" and adds in "opportunity to be a real hero" instead.

Silence for a few long moments.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Sara says flatly. 

"It _is_ the one thing he's always wanted to be able to give Mick," Amaya muses. 

"I'm going to find him," Mick says. "And when I find him..."

"Never mind that," Ray says. "Let's go save the world!"

When reality is returned to normal, Len is given a very long talk about not using reality-altering devices to create what is essentially an Escape Room-style puzzle for the pleasure and glory of his significant other and his friends (from Mick and the other Legends), not playing with his fellow villains' dreams of world-conquering like that (from Lex), and about the fact that this whole gift-escalating thing really needs to stop (Sara called Diana in for that one).

Len responds by proposing marriage to Mick, being as that's the only way he can think of to permanently one-up him. 

(He claims that once they're a single unit and Mick is permanently locked down, Mick's amazing gift-giving ability won't make him so frantic to pay him back.)

Mick says yes, but claims loudly that he's only doing it in order to write a pre-emptive restriction of crazy plans clause into their marriage vows.

(No one believes him.)

Their marriage is the biggest social event of the year for heroes and villains both. It goes remarkably well, or at least it does after they all end up teaming up to take down the locust-aliens horde from Earth-ABC. 

After all, if there's one thing heroes and villains can agree on, it's that it's one thing to crash a wedding and a totally different thing to try to eat all the food.

Len _swears_ he didn't set it up deliberately so that everyone would have a nice, entertaining fight to get out their hostility before the reception, the food for which was stashed in a totally different place. 

Mick, having seen the early drafts of the program for the wedding, doesn't even pretend to believe him.

(Neither does anyone else.)


End file.
